Earthbound: The Path of the Four
by Stewie
Summary: I HAVE RETURNED! And the writer's block is finally gone, thank God. Rated T for now, Novelization of the game.
1. The Meteor Falls

Chapter 1: The Meteor Falls  
  
The year is 2009, in the peaceful town of Onett, a small town in Eagleland, a boy by the name of Ness, who is sleeping soundly in his bed, is about to be given the biggest wake up call of his life. And is it ever loud.  
  
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
"HOLY HELL!! What was that?!?!" screamed Ness. As he got up, he could hear outside the sounds of police sirens wailing, probably heading towards whatever the sound was. Ness got up and put on his slippers, intent on investigating what woke him. He stepped out of his room into the hallway, turning on the lights in the process. 'Better check on Tracy, sound might have scared her.' thought Ness, as he went over to her door, knocked politely and stepped him. Tracy stood there, dressed and looking outside the window. Tracy was 13, so it didn't surprise Ness she was still up at this time of night. Ness, being 16 himself, used to stay up like she did all the time, but decided to stop only recently, favoring sleeping for 10 hours a day or so. Helped him clear his mind of problems in his personal opinion.  
  
"Hey bro. Did the sound wake you up? Did it freak you out?" said Tracy calmly, like she had knocked to hard on his door.  
  
"Oh no no, I like getting up at roughly 1am in the morning. OF COURSE IT WOKE ME TRACY! Man, that sound would wake the dead." Said Ness, grumpily. He did NOT like getting up in the middle of the night, always made him way too grumpy, and his family could attest to that.  
  
Tracy however, ignored his yelling fit, and continued the conversation, "Well, the sound came from outside, and I suspect if you're going to go investigate, you'll need something reliable in case something should come up." Said Tracy, as she pointed to the mounted Baseball Bat beside her bed.  
  
Ness did remember that bat with fond memories. He used it in Little League for years, Heck, he used it for TONS of stuff for years, practice, games, and he got even a few grand slams with it. Until, when he was 10 or so, the bat gave into years of use, and cracked down the side, almost near the center. Ness's dad told him although the bat was ok, and wouldn't shatter or anything, it would extremely mess up his game if he continued to use it. Ness cried himself to sleep that night, and was depressed the rest of the week. Tracy however, took about 2 weeks worth of allowance, and got him a mount made for it, and put the bat on it. Ness then looked underneath the mount, and saw the faint inscription she carved on it; 'World's Most Reliable Bat' and Ness could only chuckle. He walked over, and took the bat from the mount, and started to head downstairs.  
  
As Ness stepped downstairs, King, his dog was sleeping beside the couch, and his mother, in her pink robe and slippers, had just come down before him and turned on the downstairs lights, and was pacing about, and saw Ness with his cracked bat in hand.  
  
"What was that noise?! Ness, you don't seem scared at all. Oh don't tell me you're going out there! Are you NUTS?! You want to go check it out?" his mom exclaimed. She was openly upset which didn't surprise Ness in the least.  
  
You see, over the years, Ness had become somewhat of an explorer, dreaming and wishing he could be a great adventurer, and held little ones all the time around Onett. Course never you mind these 'excursions' scared his mother Half to DEATH. However, he always came home on time, with a smile on his face, and laid her fears to rest.  
  
"Yeah Mom, I'm going to go check that sound out, could be dangerous, and I can't let whatever caused that sound get awa-" said Ness  
  
"Oh Alright Alright, ok fine. You'll sneak out of your room anyway, even if I asked you not to go. But at LEAST change out of your jammies before you go?" she asked humbly.  
  
Ness looked down at his blue and white striped PJs and slippers. To him they were quite normal yes, but it certainly wouldn't be smart to wander all over god's creation indeed unless he wore something more practical. "Alright, I'll change." Said Ness, and he ran upstairs. As he closed the door to his room, he opened his closet door, and pulled out what he lovingly dubbed his 'adventure gear'. He liked it, but of course Tracy laughed her butt off when he called it the 'Adventuring gear', it was nothing major, just some jeans, a blue and yellow striped tee shirt, shoes and socks, his favorite, most comfortable backpack, and a baseball cap, with his favorite team's logo on it, turned backwards, so he could see more. As he put it on, he grabbed his wallet, which held his Picture ID, his ATM Card, and as he checked his pockets and the wallet, he found a sum of 20 dollars on him. 'Not bad.Not bad to check out this problem.' He thought as he stuffed the money in the wallet, and placed it in his back pocket. As he adjusted his backpack, he felt the two loops he sewed the pack itself, he added those originally to carry a thick walking stick, but he found it just the right size for his cracked bat. It took a few seconds, but he was able to adjust the pack to allow the Bat to fit perfectly in the slot, and made it easy reach for him to grab it. 'Looking sharp Ness.' He thought as he studied himself in the mirror. 'Ok then, let's get to work.'  
  
Ness headed downstairs and opened the door outside. "Be Careful! Come Home as soon as you can." Said his mother as he closed the door. Ness looked to his left and saw two policemen forming a barricade towards town, Onett was well known for its attempts at putting up roadblocks, He then checked his watch. 1:28, it sure was cool out during the night time here in Onett. 'Times like this, I wish I lived in Summers.' He thought as he started off down the dirt path towards what he assumed was the path to the explosion.  
  
"Tim! Do you know what's going on around here?" said Ness as he ran over to greet the blond haired boy standing near his neighbor's house. Tim was a boy from School that Ness knew.  
  
"Oh Ness. Did you hear the big bang? I think a meteorite landed nearby. I'm gonna see if I can be the first one to see it. See you later Ness" Said Tim. As he ran off towards the crash site.  
  
Ness looked up towards the higher ground; he could see multiple blue and red lights blinking and hear a commotion up there. 'Looks like couple people beat Tim and me there. A Meteorite eh? Well, that's CERTAINLY an Adventure.' thought Ness. He turned south and began to walk the long dirt path towards the crash site. As he walked, he ran across more police, walked pass them, overhearing one of them talk about how the Sharks were running loose, Kids were out of bed and he was hungry. Ness just walked past, and continued up the long path. As he walked up the long path, he walked over to a tree he had sat at not more than 13 hours ago. He had had a nice picnic lunch there, and noticed he left the basket there from that morning. 'Must have slipped my mind, well I am hungry....' and he searched the basket, he found little food leftover, just a bread roll and a cookie. 'Eh I'll eat the cookie now, save this bread roll for later' he thought as he stuffed the roll in his pocket.  
  
Continuing up the mountain pass, he noticed the small shack owned by this weird man up there who considered Ness his only confidante, since the boy wandered everywhere. Lier X. Aggerate was the man's name, and he owned a small sign making business to make ends meet, but most people just ignored him, since he tended to do a lot of, what they deemed 'crazy things' in his household. He waved to Ness as the boy passed by, and Ness politely waved back, not wanting to talk to the old man right now about his crazy schemes of swindling people, and how he was stronger than everyone else because of his eating habits.  
  
Ness rounded the side of the hill, and was met by a group of Police Officers, who had sealed off the final rise to the crash site itself, and beside them, was Pokey. The fat kid was trying everything to sneak past, distract, or confuse the guards to get a better look at the crash site, but was mostly just annoying them and holding the police up from doing their job. As Ness approached, one policeman came up to him, Officer O'Malley, an old friend of Ness's dad and asked Ness,  
  
"Hey Ness, can you get Pokey off our backs for us? He's your best friend isn't he?" Ness looked skeptically at O'Malley. To say Pokey was Ness's best friend was saying cancer was GOOD for people. Ness had no fondness for the fat, blonde-haired, lying lump, but Pokey always hung around Ness like the plague, saying they were good friends, just to boost his own status around town. Which never worked anyway, mostly everyone around town hated him anyway. O'Malley saw Ness's expression and then stated,  
  
"Well he's at least your Neighbor, right?"  
  
Ness groaned, "Yeah, he is." That was possibly the worst part about it all, Pokey always came over and acted like they were on great terms, and Ness should be grateful for having him as a friend and coming over, whereas Ness would have rather seen him take a long walk off a short pier.  
  
It was then Pokey noticed Ness talking to Officer O'Malley, in which he waddled over to the two of them, and spoke, "Hey Ness! Don't be Rubberneckin', your getting in my- I mean, Officer's way! Just go home, I, the great Pokey, will be able to tell you all about it tomorrow." O'Malley shook his head in annoyance, looked at Ness, and realized there was nothing indeed the boy could do to get Pokey to leave. Ness, decided to leave anyway, he wanted to get some sleep, and get rid of his annoyance by Pokey, leave it to that Darwinian Nightmare to hold himself in such high regards, and to blame Ness for doing what Pokey himself was doing the entire time. Ness headed back down the mountain, towards home. As he reached his house, he noticed there was his mom, standing at the front door, a look of worry on her face.  
  
"Hi Mom, It was a meteorite that landed. The police have it blocked off already," said Ness calmly.  
  
"Gracious! Well at least no one got hurt. Well welcome home, Ness. I talked with Sara, the librarian as she walked by about the meteorite, don't worry there's no need to talk about it tonight. You scoot up to bed now, we'll talk about it in the morning," said his mother as she opened the door.  
  
Ten Minutes later, the light's went off in Ness's house, everyone fast asleep. Later that night, the police, having reports of a burglary in progress, left the crash site, and two dark figures entered the site.. 


	2. Chapter 2: School of Annoying Knocks and...

Hey Folks, it's your old pal Stewie again...Yeah, sorry about the whole updating thing, but 15 hours of school and work is MURDER on the system, and I forgot COMPLETELY about this!! But I'm back to update, and Will be sure to update more often, since I got more feedback then I figured.  
  
For those that posted, thanks for the Feedback! Mr. Manguy – I just like to keep my typing a little close to the game, but I'll put my own stuff in as I go along. So No worries. Michael DePalma – ooo, Big Words = Scary j/k :p, actually, this is my first time writing something ASIDE from a book report, so you got to learn somewhere, I hope to get better myself. Ecron – Ness is actually 13 in the game, it says so I think in the Instruction Booklet or in the game, but I changed his age because it's also weird a 13 year old would have a Personal ATM card. Vivi239 – Thank you the most, I saw the comment and realized 'OH $#%*! I knew I forgot something!  
  
But on with the writing, and I quote Adam West here, 'I love this job more than I love Taffy. And I'm a man who enjoys his taffy.'  
  
Disclaimer: Oh God how I WISH I owned Earthbound and its series, but sadly I don't. *sniff* so please don't sue.  
  
Chapter 2: School of Annoying Knocks and a Destiny from the University of Insects.  
  
1 hour later....  
  
'KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!' came the sudden sound blaring through Ness's room. "Hmm yeah yeah, Klaatu Barada Nikto Gort." Mumbled Ness, his eyes shot open as Ness realized what the hell was going on and once again came another knocking, this time in a song like fashion. Ness got up, looked at his Alarm Clock. 3:00 am. Ness growled looking towards his door, intending to make sure this 'Visitor' of his learned what happens to people who knock on Baseball players doors at ungodly hours in the morning. As he walked into the hallway, there stood Tracy as well, equal look of annoyance on her face.  
  
"Ah, you as well Ness? I see you have the bat as well. I call the Knees." Said Tracy, accompanying Ness as he walked down the stairs.  
  
"Land Sakes, who's up at THIS hour?" Said Ness's Mom, who was walking towards the door.  
  
"And also who won't stop that damn annoying KNOCKING?!" said Tracy.  
  
As Ness's Mom was about to answer the door when the 'Mystery Knocker' opened the door himself, and in strolled, well more like WADDLED, Pokey, breathing harder than normal. Which that in itself is no hard feat to accomplish. "Ness! Listen please! After the police left the meteorite site to handle the Sharks, I took Picky to go see what it looked like." Pokey continued talking, Ness only listening partially, angry at Pokey for multiple reasons, for One, He woke up Ness at 3 in the morning because of something he personally screwed up on, and he wanted Ness's help to pull him out of his own mess. 'Typical Pokey,' thought Ness, 'although I am worried about Picky.' Unlike his brother, Picky was a pretty good kid, bit of a punk rocker, but good all around and treated people nicely. Of all of Pokey's family, Ness could say Picky was the only one there that he liked. His mind made up, Ness interrupted Pokey's rant with, "Alright Pokey, I'll help you find Picky."  
  
Pokey looked ecstatic after hearing Ness, whereas Ness's mother groaned. "Two Times in One Night NESS?!" She sighed, "Fine! Just worry your poor mother to death, but since your heading out, change for your 'Adventure' as you so lovingly put it." Ness rushed upstairs and changed. As he came back down, there stood his mom, with King at her side, "I know that he's practically ALWAYS sleeping, but King here should be able to provide you some help sniffing where Picky is. Plus those current reports of Wild Dogs out there has me worried, so take him with you. Although I'm worried Ness, I'm sure you'll be alright. You've always had something special about you, something I can't quite put my finger on, but its there. You're my own natural born fighter, and you'll be alright son. I know it." Ness smiled as he hugged his mother, she always did know how to make him feel good before a journey, and it also made him realize he'd make it back home ok. Ness leaned down and patted King on the head, as the dog barked back, his tail wagging happily, ready to go check out what was preventing him and his master sleep.  
  
"Alright, let's go Pokey." said Ness, and he reached for the doorknob, the telephone rang. "I'll get it." cried Ness, walking back over to the telephone, and picking up the receiver. "Hello?"  
  
"Ness? Is that you my boy?" said a voice on the other end.  
  
It was Ness's father, a man of hard work habits to say the least. Ness loved his father with all his heart, but good lord, Ness wished the man spent some more time with his family. Here it was, 3 am, and his father was still at the office, working on problems there. Although it saddened the family he was never home, Ness understood. He went with his dad to his office one day, and his desk was...well not there. It was so covered in paperwork, Ness wondered how many Redwoods gave their lives for this paperwork, and 2 dozen at least, he was roughly guessing. On the bright side though, His family MUST have been millionaires by the amount of overtime and backup pay his Dad's company owed him.  
  
"Sorry about the late call, son, but I was just taking a small 10 minute break from the Johnson file I'm working on right now. It's been murder on the head, but hey, as I always say, 'Work to exhaustion while your young.' You've heard that weird phrase right? Anyway, just wanted to call to say hi, oh and I deposited 30 dollars in your account, I know it's a little more than you usual allowance, but your mother has been telling me about your 'excursions'. You have your adventures, and I hope you find something BIG in terms of adventure. I feel like some sort of hero."  
  
"Dad, if I'm going on the adventure, aren't I the hero?" replied Ness, smiling at his dad's joke. His dad always loved what Ness did, even though it scared his mother to death.  
  
"What? Well you have a point there son. Alright, the FATHER of a Hero at least! Anyway, put your mom on for me. Talk to you later son!" he replied.  
  
"Bye Dad. Mom, it's dad, he wants to talk to you, I'm going now by the way." said Ness.  
  
As they stepped outside, Pokey talked about taking the rear, in case they get back attacked. 'Or to allow you a quick getaway you wimp.' Thought Ness, 'No, I can't think this way right now, I got to find Picky, and he could be hurt.' Ness decided the best place to start was the Crash Site; hopefully Picky was still there, looking for his cowardly brother as well.  
  
As Ness walked the same path he took last time, a rustling sound came up from the bush ahead of him, King took a few steps forward, slowly growling, catching wind of something he obviously did not like. Ness caught wind of this too, and proceeded to take his bat out. As he walked cautiously towards the bush, King starting barking loudly as a Large Brown Dog came out barking, and charging towards Ness, and grabbed a hold of his ankle, biting it as hard as it could. The animals attack was short lived though, as King proceeded to attack the dog as well, biting its leg which in turned caused its anger to turn over to King. Ness then took his turn to swing his Bat as hard as he could, hitting the dog hard in the ribs, causing the dog to yelp in pain. Whimpering in pain, the animal ran off quickly, in fear of the boy.  
  
"Whew! That was a close one Ness!" said Pokey, "Good job, I was gonna attack that dog as well, but you beat me to the punch line as I was inching closer to it. And...Ness? You alright?"  
  
Ness was breathing heavily for a few moments, still looking over in his mind what just happened there. How the pain in his ankle hurt so much, what was causing the pain, until he couldn't think straight for a moment, but suddenly recalled the way his ankle felt before the attack, and looked down at the bleeding ankle. What happened next was something odd, but suddenly he could see what injuries his ankle was suffering from It was something he couldn't explain, but he knew how to heal the torn muscle, small bleeding, and wounded skin, It was something within him, a force that seemed to tell him, 'You can stop this pain.' And as he concentrated on the concept of the wound closing up and being healed, Ness was amazed to see the wound immediately start to close up, and the pain vanished.  
  
"Ness? Are we going or not?" said Pokey, as he walked up towards the boy, and noticed the look of astonishment on his face. Pokey looked down at the holes in Ness's socks, replying, "Man, that was close, looks like that dog needs to get a new set of teeth eh?"  
  
Ness, still astonished by what he did, looked up at Pokey in disbelief. As he got up to see how his ankle was, he was still surprised to find there was no pain there at all. He looked at his ankle, then at Pokey who had a bewildered look on his face, then back at the ankle. 'How did I? But....Oh I'll try and solve this later, I got to get Picky back before his folks get home and start to really worry.  
  
It took a little while, the occasional Snake or hungry Bird attacking the small group, but Ness fended most of them off, while King provided good back up from time to time. As they climbed up the final curve of the hill, Ness noticed the Road Blocks were still there, but no police.  
  
'Wow, for once Pokey wasn't lying nor exaggerating. Wonder what the Sharks did that was so bad.' thought Ness.  
  
The Sharks were the local Street Gang, a bunch of Ruffians that liked to push people around, and aside from the occasional scaring of little old ladies or purse snatching, the Sharks used to be nothing more than a group of School Bullies. The Police were able to handle most of the major things they did for awhile. That is, until Frank showed up. 'Fearless' Frank was the Leader of the group, and was rumored to have pulled off multiple crimes that the police could never track down to him, but these were mostly unfounded rumors. However one thing he did do was increase the amount of members they had, and take over the local Arcade as his turf. But the scariest thing of all was he brought Organization to the local group, making them into a real gang, which was the main reason why no one went to the Arcade anymore. That is, unless they wanted to be a Member. The Police didn't enter, in fear of a riot breaking out, for who knows how many people Frank DID recruit. Plus Chief Strong had a quota to keep up in terms of Roadblocks and with the Mayor constantly breathing down his neck, it was a miracle in on itself Strong was able to do THAT.  
  
As Ness walked past the Roadblocks, he heard a whimper, then a howl. Turning around, King's tail was between his legs, a look of worry on the dog's face, like something here wasn't right, and it scared the animal, he then ran off back the way they came. Ness hoped that King was heading home, and not in blind fear of what was up here.  
  
"Come on Pokey, let's look around," said Ness, "Your brother must be around here somewhere."  
  
The Meteorite was bathed in an unearthly Orange and yellow, like the color of neon fire, steam still rising from the recently crashed chunk of Rock. 'Best keep away from this thing, it's still quite hot.' thought Ness. As he continued his search, Ness heard a light snoring from nearby, looking to his right; he saw a familiar blond hair covered head. There sat Picky, his light snoring showing him in a peaceful sleep, as if waiting for Pokey to show his fat face here to wake him up when it was time to go.  
  
"Pokey! Get over here, I found him." said Ness as he leaned down. "Come on Picky, wake up buddy, andlet's get you home."  
  
"No Pokey, get your own pudding ya fat lump!" grumbled Picky, Ness rolled his eyes in response, and shook Picky awake. Picky turned for a moment, and opened his eyes. "Ness! What the heck are you doin" Picky looked over at Pokey walking over, "....oh I see. So he got scared and enlisted you eh?"  
  
"More like conscripted. Come on let's get out of here." said Ness as he helped Picky up onto his feet.  
  
As they started to walk away, Ness heard a slight humming in his ears, which turned into a faint buzzing, like a fly was buzzing past his ear. "What the heck is that?" said Ness.  
  
"You hear it too? I was just about to ask you both that." said Pokey. "It sounds like some type of bee."  
  
Ness listened more intently, and Pokey was right, that did sound like a bee, and as he looked around, he heard Picky gasp and suddenly Pokey was tugging at his sleeve. "What is.....it?" said Ness as he turned around, his look of annoyance changing into a look of amazement. They were in front of the Meteorite, however this time a single white shaft of light was pouring out of it. As they looked upon the light shaft, the faint buzzing grew louder and louder, as the single ray of light, expanded wider and wider until covering the entire meteorite, and from the near blinding ray of light came a single small Beetle. Or at least Ness THOUGHT it looked like a beetle to some degree, yet it looked like no type he'd ever seen before.  
  
"A Bee I am not." Said the Insect, causing the 3 boys to jump back in surprise, after all, it wasn't everyday you heard an insect TALK. The Beetle then flew over to Ness and sat itself down on the brim of his cap, as Pokey and Picky took a step back. "Whoa....sorry about the whole 'Talking like Yoda I am' speech. But time travel can do that to you ya know?" said the insect, as if he were talking about what a nice cold night it was, never you mind he was possibly the ONLY insect in the world that could talk.  
  
Ness removed his cap slowly, and turned it around to see the creature, all the while contemplating this in his head. "Time Travel? You mean to tell me your from another Time?" said the boy calmly, praying to get some answers from this currently freaky event.  
  
The insect turned its head towards Ness, "Yes, I am indeed. The Future to be exact, however it's...." he looked down, as if in grief, "much worse than what it is now. A terrible evil has appeared. And it has brought this world to a hellish nightmare. Hope is but a distant dream there, and survival is a constant struggle. However, it is written that a group of saviors will appear. They will be from the past, lead by a boy and his companions, 2 boys and 1 girl, and shatter the Nightmare Rock that holds us in fear. I came back in time, because I believe that you are that Boy Ness who will deliver us from Giygas, the overlord and conductor of the evil. I may not look like much right now, but I am one of the best fighters from my time, though I am a bit weak right now because of the Time Travel, but let us go and rest and I will tell you more, if you will let me accompany you?"  
  
Stunned, Ness stood there, waiting for the meaning of the story to sink in. Pokey's mouth hung open, a look of horror on his face. A moment later, Ness smiled. "Alright, let's go then," he said, and as he put his cap back on, he then replied, "by the way, what is your name?"  
  
Then insect flew off of Ness's cap, and replied, "My name is Buzz Buzz Ness. And I thank you for believing me and agreeing to help."  
  
Pokey then took this chance to voice his opinion, "Whoa whoa, who said WE agreed to help you?!" he whined, Ness looked back at the boy, "Ness, you can't be serious wanting to do this can you?! I mean this bug talks of fighting an Ultimate Evil that enslaved Humanity and how he THINKS that we're the chosen ones and you just say 'Fine, let's go.'?! I don't think I'm cut out for this sort of thing!"  
  
"Oh calm down Pokey, Buzz Buzz said that it was 3 boys and a girl, for all you know, neither you nor Picky here could be them. It could be some kid from WINTERS for all we know! So calm down, and let's go" scolded Ness. Pokey, still in fear of the potential future he might have, could only nod in silent defeat.  
  
They then set off, Buzz Buzz hovering over Ness's head, intent on heading back to Pokey's house to drop the two brothers off. As they headed back down, Ness noticed on their way up to the Meteorite, they were waylaid every step by something or other, willing to attack them, but now it was as quiet as a church mouse on their way down. 'They must be scared of Buzz Buzz, no wonder King ran off.' he thought.  
  
Ness looked ahead to see they finally made it to their homes, as they walked the last few steps of the trail, a loud thunder clap sounded, and then a single brilliant beam of light appeared in front of them, and something...humanoid was all Ness could think of on how to describe this thing that stood there in front of him. It was about his height, it was White all over, with a stub like head, a single black bar across the front of where its eyes should have been. It had thin, arms; ending in spike shaped tentacles, on its front chest was a series of shapes, probably indicating its rank.  
  
"So Buzz Buzz, at last I've found you," said the Alien, "You have eluded me for the last time, and I will make sure you do not ever interfere with that Master's plans ever again."  
  
"So you found me Starman. I knew that wherever I went, you wouldn't be that far off. But now both you and your master's times are up. I have found the Chosen One, and with his help, I'll avenge what your kind has done to us." said Buzz Buzz in anger.  
  
The being known as Starman turned the black bar on his 'face' from Buzz Buzz to Ness. "This boy? You truly have become desperate you useless insect. Relying on children to fight your battles for you. There might have been a time where you were a true challenge to the Master, but those days have long gone from you. And I shall make sure you won't live to see another one."  
  
Ness had heard enough, this Alien wasn't gonna hurt his new friend, nor anyone else for that matter, and he reached for his bat. Buzz Buzz flew above the boys' heads, and suddenly Ness temporarily saw the world bathed in a Pink Light, and it vanished. Ness and Picky attacked the Alien, Picky throwing a punch at the alien while Ness attacked its head. The Starman's face took the full force of the bat, yet it seemed like that attack didn't even phase the creature. The Starman stretched its arms forward, and from the ends of his tentacles a great stream of fire emerged, moving towards Ness and the others. The boys all ducked and covered their heads in fear, but to their great surprise nothing happened. Ness looked up to see Buzz Buzz attacking the Starman with his body, the Alien took a step back from the force of the blow Buzz Buzz used on him. Starman once again threw another stream of fire at them, and Ness noticed this time, that when the fire reached him, the world turned pink again, yet this time, when the fire dissipated, the pink haze melted away. Buzz Buzz flew closer to Ness, and this time Ness noticed Buzz Buzz stay still for a moment, and suddenly the world went pink once again. 'A Shield!' thought Ness, 'Of course! Buzz Buzz did say he was an accomplished fighter, so that's what he's been doing.' Ness then redoubled his efforts, and attacked the Starman again, yet no matter what, all of his attacks barely phased the creature. Buzz Buzz also attacked, and after his second charge, the Starman fell to the ground.  
  
"You may have won here, but I will return you insignificant bug. And when I do, pray for a quick death." said the Starman, and he slumped to the ground. And in a brilliant flash of light, he disappeared.  
  
Buzz Buzz landed on Ness's shoulder, his wings fluttering, and the looks of a bug trying to catch its breath. "Wow. That was a close one, that being was a Starman Jr., one of weaker versions of Giygas's soldiers. He must have followed me from the Future in order to prevent me from finding you. We must be cautious Ness, Giygas must have wind of our plans now, and will send more than his soldiers, he has the power to control the minds and bodies of People and Animals, my guess he will do whatever he can to stop us."  
  
Ness shuddered in fear of the ideas of having to fight something far tougher than that Starman Jr., and if that was the weakest of Giygas's Soldiers, heaven knows what he would fight next.  
  
"Come on Ness, let's hurry! I think my folks are home by now!" whined Pokey, trying to recover over what just happened, and the quivering in fear of what his parents were going to do to him and his brother. With that summation, the 3 of them ran as fast as they could to Pokey's house, hoping that they weren't gonna be in trouble.  
  
As they entered the house, they were sadly proven wrong, as their stood Pokey's Mom and Dad, both with looks of anger on their face, ready to strangle their 2 children. "There you are! Do you know how WORRIED SICK your mother has been this night, thinking where you two have been, if you'd been attacked, kidnapped or WORSE? You two are in such big trouble right now!!" screamed Pokey's Dad, a man of large girth who had blond hair, and wore glasses. Pokey and Picky ran upstairs in fear, for a mad father could turn into a dangerous father. And Picky had told Ness of countless times where his father had spanked the both of them for constant harassment of people, and various other things. Their father ran upstairs after the two of them. After a few minutes of what sounded like yelling, he came back downstairs.  
  
"By the way boy, Tell that father of yours I wish you people would leave. Because of his requests, my family and I are living in poverty, and all of you have been nothing but a burden on my family." said the fat man. Ness held back the urge to just roll his eyes. The money Pokey's Dad talked about was a mere 100 dollars Ness's father needed for a wedding present. Ness had paid his father back, and much more in gratitude. But of course, Pokey's father had to be one of the biggest penny pinchers Ness had ever heard of. So Ness just let this talk roll off his back like it was nothing. He had bigger fish to fry, namely this whole 'destiny thing' Buzz Buzz talked of. Just then, Ness heard a scream, Ness and Pokey's father looked over to see Pokey's Mother with a Flyswatter, yelling, "A Dung Beetle! I'll smash your guts out!!!"  
  
'OH NO!!!' thought Ness, 'I've got to stop her!!' as he ran over to prevent the mad woman from smashing his friend, WHAM! And it was too late. Looking underneath the swatter, she sneered in disgust of the sight underneath, and walked upstairs to wash her hands of the mess. Resisting the urge right then and there to make her feel what she just did to Buzz Buzz, Ness ran over to his fallen friend, hoping and praying he wasn't dead. Ness looked on in horror, Buzz Buzz was in horrid shape, his wings were broken, and he had trouble moving.  
  
Buzz Buzz panted, "I guess...Time Travel....weakened me more than...I thought."  
  
"Oh god Buzz Buzz, what do I do? What am I supposed to do?"  
  
"You must....you must begin your journey now. I was right to believe you were the one." Buzz Buzz then stopped moving.  
  
"Buzz Buzz? BUZZ BUZZ?! WAKE UP!!" yelled the boy.  
  
Buzz Buzz stirred. "I'm not dead yet Ness. But it's going to happen soon, so I must be quick to say this. In order to destroy Giygas, you must discover the powers within you, you already discovered some of it when you learned the ability to heal yourself. It is an ability called Psychic Power. It was the same ability I had that stopped that attack the Starman used," said Buzz Buzz, "You will discover more as you adventure, But you must unite these abilities with the Earth's power itself. The Earth will then multiply your power many times, and with that, you will know what you must do to destroy Giygas. You must visit 8 areas in the world, these places are sacred to you, and once you have discovered these places, they will allow you to unite with the Earth. These places are part of 'Your Sanctuary'. Here, let me give this to you." Buzz Buzz then moved slightly and concentrated. In front of Ness out of thin air, a small sky blue stone the size of a tennis ball appeared out of thin air. "This is called the Sound Stone. This item will record what has happened at each of the locations of 'Your Sanctuary'. You will need it with you." Said Buzz Buzz, he then shook, coughed, and gasped for more air. "Ness, you are stronger than you look and think you are. The Sun is beginning to rise outside, as is your adventure. I believe in you, you must free us....do not let...me down." Murmured Buzz Buzz, and he breathed no more.  
  
Ness looked down at the small hero. He had given his life to make sure that the future would be saved, and Ness was going to make sure that his death was not in vain. As he stepped outside, Buzz Buzz was right, the Sun was rising, and Ness was going to start his adventure to save the world. 


	3. Onett, Breeding Town of Heros

I'm back! Thanks guys for all the reviews and for checking this thing even when it's a year old! Its cause of those I remembered to start back up, Writer's Block hit me big time for 2 months and then everything seemed to jump in front of me, 3 jobs, getting money for school, but I won't bore you with details of my life.

But hey, I've gotten more reading done in that time, and now I've FINALLY gotten off my lazy ass and gonna start working on this damn thing!

Michael DePalma - Once again, thank you for the post, and Thank you indeed for the Full Review, I'm quite glad to see I'm a possible rising star in this section, hopefully I'll get somewhere, assuming I can actually get off my ass and clear some space for this Fic:p Although those are indeed quite a listing of books you've listed for me, I'm more into both the Harry Flashman series (a Historical Fiction) by George MacDonald Fraser, and also into Fantasy Novels myself, Richard A. Knaak. (WARCRAFT RULES!)

Milk Toast – eh?...hmmmmm Well first things first, I'll post it here and see how it goes.

John, Alec, Drew and Goz – Thanks guys! You all reminded my email about it! 

Well, time to get this party started and keep them reviews comin!

Disclaimer I do not own Earthbound, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this; I'd be making Earthbound 3:p

Chapter 3: Onett, a Closer Look at the Town that breeds Heroes.

Ness lazily opened one eye, looking around his room.

'Was it all a Dream?' He thought, hoping the fate of the world was indeed not in his young hands, the small blue stone resting on a towel at his desk told him otherwise.

He then recalled earlier that day. As the sun was rising, Ness recalled what Buzz Buzz said.

'You must free us. Do not let us down.'

He was so confused, what could he do?! He was only 16 for God's sake! The biggest worry he had on his mind was passing his Friday test in Biology, getting a Girlfriend, and what to do Saturday. But, oh no! On top of all that, here comes a mystical talking bug from the future, saying, 'By the way, the World is doomed unless you traverse the globe in time to stop it. Oh, and you're the only hope!' Then, to top it all off, he was exhausted. So he decided to finish the easiest problem first, and get some much needed sleep.

The sleep did him more good than he could have imagined. Since saving the world was not your average thing, he decided the whole 'schoolwork/girlfriend/Saturday plans thing' would defiantly be put on the back burner for awhile.

As Ness got up and went about getting himself ready for the day, he recalled hearing something about the only tourist attraction of Onett, Giant Step, had been giving off strange vibes that gave people headaches or some such other thing. He decided that was the best place to start.

Grabbing his pack and cap, Ness stepped outside towards the fresh afternoon air. Onett was not a small town, but neither was it a big city either, it did have enough of it though to be considered 'Civilization'. Ness's house was a few yards or so out of town, but the walk was always nice and scenic. As he rounded the path into town, he noticed the small rooftop peaking out of a group of trees near the town library. He smiled, recalling earlier that week a group of his younger friends from school told him about their secret 'hideout', and was allowing him the privilege of joining their ever growing group. Billy, Ness's 'Number 1 Fan', at least that's what he called himself, asked him to show up later for a special 'surprise'.

'In a little while. First things first, I need to get a map or two for this adventure. Best check out the Town Library for anything.' thought Ness as he walked towards the large brick building in the distance. On his way there, Ness ran into multiple types of beast, from small, violent Garden snakes to more of those crazed strays that hung around the area of his house. Ness had heard about people's complaints about the animals recently becoming far more violent and aggressive to people, but never imagined it to be like this. It took longer than he figured a simple hike to town would take, but with animals attacking him every step of the way, that tended to slow things down to a crawl.

As he walked through the double doors, Ness surveyed the interior of the Library. The outside had the same look as the inside, that being a modern look, the slow hum of the A/C blowing, keeping the area from being stuffy. As he looked across the grand lobby, he noticed a few doors on his right with the Receptionist's Desk located beside them. In front of him was the stairway up to the second floor. Walking towards the desk, Ness noticed the smiling young lady behind it, waiting to answer whatever came her way.

"Hello sir, and welcome to the Onett Public Library, how can I help you?" she asked pleasantly to the 16 year old.

"Yes, I was wondering do you have any maps of the country side of Eagleland? I'll take any you can offer, be it only Onett, Twoson or even Scaraba." asked Ness politely. 'Good lord why I am thinking of going to Scaraba?! I'm getting a little too foolish to think I'm gonna have to travel that far.' thought Ness.

The receptionist looked over Ness for a moment, then replied, "Well Sir we do indeed have maps of every city in Eagleland, however the Country is quite big, and to give you all those would be a bit of a burden, and plus you can't check that all out at once." She stated politely. "Fortunately for you, we've just gotten a CPA in."

Ness looked at the girl blankly, "What would I need an Accountant for? I need a map!"

The receptionist rolled her eyes, "Not that type of CPA you dolt! I'm talking about a Cartographer's Personal Assistant." She produced from beneath the counter a small silver and black hand held computer, in red letters beneath the screen where the words 'Cartographer's Personal Assistant' was written.

"This handy little device has every city map ever done for Eagleland. With the small GPS locator in it, the CPA always knows where you are in terms of cities, and with the stylus on the back, you can zoom in and out of every city, and it will highlight and give details of every shop that is listed. Oh, and should the CLE, that's the Cartographer's League of Eagleland, have missed anything, you also can use the stylus to add your own little marker's and contributions to the CLE. Just click on that area your adding, and write in what you want to add. Since we lend it out to only certain people that request it, its due date isn't like normal books or maps, you can check it out and we don't need it returned until 4 years from now."

"FOUR YEARS!" Ness exclaimed, "Isn't that a bit long for a single item? What if someone decided to steal it?"

"Well sir, as I said, it has a GPS locator in it, but it also has a tracker in it as well. So if someone tried to steal it, we'd know exactly where the CPA was, and could easily track down the thief from there. But also only certain people, such as yourself, ask for multiple maps of Eagleland, so we assume their going on a pretty long journey and will need it for various reasons."

The receptionist then handed Ness the CPA, he thanked her for the handy little item, and left the library. As he turned it over to take the stylus out, Ness noticed on the back of the CPA was scratched a small note with bold letters, '42. Don't Panic.' Puzzled slightly at the weird note, Ness took the stylus out of it's little holder, and clicked on the front monitor, immediately the screen went black, with a minty blue tint around the corners, the words 'Now Loading…' on the bottom right screen. After a few moments, the screen sure enough popped up a map of Onett. Ness also noticed the Drugstore, Restaurants, Hospital and Hotel all had a little box identifying them for him.

'Hmm, the last guy must have set this up for a quick glance.' thought Ness as he continued to fiddle with the different features on the screen. After a few minutes, Ness put the CPA up, and decided to head over to the Drugstore, to get himself properly outfitted for this excursion.

Onett was not a metropolis, in fact most would say it had the look of a small town when you got to City Hall, but it in recent years, more and more people had moved in, and the town was slowly increasing in size, the 2 most recent things that emerged was the Arcade Center, and the just recent construction of the Mach Pizza place. It had a small Hospital, a decent Hotel, with a nice view of the Western Ocean, and the Florblue Drugstore carried everything you needed, from simple Medicine and Food to equipment for the everyday adventurer.

Ness entered the red brick drugstore. The clerk gave him a warm smile and said hello to Ness. As Ness was walking away to check to see what they had in stock, the clerk said, "Hey Ness, we just got in the new HR9 Bat that you asked about a few weeks ago." As he said this, Ness's eyes lit up and he walked back to the counter. "I knew you'd want to know and buy it as soon as possible, so I held one in reserve for you." As he said this, he pulled out a what appeared to be a somewhat sturdy looking bat from beneath the counter, it had the same appearance of his Cracked Bat, the only 2 key differences was that there was a stronger grip holder on the new bat, and also there wasn't a huge frickin crack down the middle of the new one. As Ness inspected the new Bat, he asked the question he was dreading, "How much for it?"

"Well Ness, I know you're a regular customer, and that baseball equipment is your specialty here, but we just got in a new manager, so I'm only able to give you a small discount this time, and I got to charge $48."

Ness grunted in frustration, "Yeah, just as I thought, I don't enough right this minute, but let me go see how much money I can get my dad to move to my account."

Ness then asked to get some change for the phone, and walked over to call his dad. In recent years, the price of the telephones had reached crazed rates, now it had reached the price of a whole dollar, but no one complained for a simple reason, it was a dollar yes, but you could stay on and talk to the person as long as you wanted, and you could call anywhere. A steep price yes, but a worthy price to pay nonetheless.

Ness put in the money and dialed his dad's office. "Ness is that you? Glad that you've decided to call me, I've wanted to talk and take a break anyway! The Stillman case has been driving me nuts! And I thought the Johnson case was bad… Anyway! So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Hey dad, well I'm here at the Drugstore, and…"

"Oh! Before you continue, that reminds me that I went and put another $300 in your account. Your mother said something about how you still hadn't come home, and was getting a little worried, so I thought that was one thing I could do, and that you'd call one of us eventually. You always were the smart boy to call one of us to let us know how things are. But at least call your mother, she's probably worried sick. Oh jeez! Here comes the boss, I got to go son, callmelaterwe'lltalksoonbye!!!"

Ness huffed. He didn't even get the chance to add a single sentence in edgewise during that conversation, but then again, it was his father, and things like this were normal. But on the bright side, he did just receive 300 more dollars. 'Man! I can go all out with that!' Ness smiled as he walked over to the ATM and inserted his card. 'You have $330 in your account now. Which would you like?' said the screen as it popped up 2 options, Withdrawal and Deposit. Ness withdrew 130 dollars, and figured it would be enough to get him by for a little while.

Asking to see the bat again, Ness paid the price for the new bat, and asked what types of arm protection they had. The only thing the clerk could help him get was a small cheap bracelet that covered his wrist and a little of his lower forearm. It was made out of some cheap metal that Ness couldn't quite place, but it must have been made quite nicely nonetheless, cause the price was a steep $98!! 'Get by for a LITTLE while indeed.' thought Ness as he handed the Clerk a hundred. He checked his wallet, and had now a total of 4 dollars.

'Well I'm broke again, but at least I'm properly outfitted. Now let's go check the clubhouse, then on to Giant Step!'

Ness walked outside the Drugstore, and headed back towards the direction of the library, taking a left down the dirt path, he noticed a boy standing near a clump of tree lines, looking from left to right, constantly pacing. Ness knew the boy as Tommy, a member of 'The Ness Fan Club' who sort of prided themselves as the Number One fans of the next Major League Baseball player that would be up there with Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. In truth it was actually just a group of 4 boys who had built themselves a Tree House and wanted to form some sort of cool 'club' and decided a local hero to worship. Ness showed up from time to time to talk to the group, mostly to ask them to please stop giving him hero worship, some people saw him as getting a large ego cause of it. Well actually it was only Pokey who thought it, and he had a bigger Ego than Ness anyway, but nonetheless, he bugged Ness CONSTANTLY about it, and he never freaking shut up about it either.

As he arrived at the entrance, Tommy stood at Attention and saluted him as if he was a 4 Star General ready for inspection. Tommy always took his job of 'Look Out' for the Club seriously, as if some higher authority entrusted him with this highly noble position, even though he appointed it to himself cause he thought it was cool. Ness just walked up, rolled his eyes, but saluted him to humor the boy, and proceeded to head to the Tree House.

Ness had to admit, for a bunch of 8 year olds, these boys certainly knew their way around 2 x 4s. The tree house may have had simple living conditions, but the construction was remarkable, every piece fit perfectly, the wood was lacquered, and finely polished. A Table sat in the center of the single room, used for practically every purpose the boys could think of. 2 of them, Wally and Nigel were standing at the side talking about some unknown thing, and in front of Ness stood Billy Huntingsworth, tested number one fan of the greatest baseball batter to come out of Onett, maybe even the world by Billy's standards. The small boy stood at only 4'6 currently, but he'd be sprouting up like a tree in no time, and the large hat nearly covering his head did nothing to help denote his short stature by making him look the part even more. Turning around, Billy noticed finally his idol, and nearly jumped with excitement.

"Ness! YOU CAME BY! I knew you'd show up soon, and I can give you the surprise we got set up for our Hero, it's this!" Billy then turned around and grabbed from a box next to the makeshift table they had, and pulled out a baseball cap, although at a glance it seemed worn and old, it was merely acid washed with an insignia on the front and a signature on the side. As Ness grasped it, he looked at the cap and noticed the signature was of Mr. Baseball himself, the Onett Major League Team Mascot. "It's what we consider an extremely lucky baseball cap since it was the only one he signed on the field and threw into the crowd last year…Tommy got it and said it would help you a whole bunch during your adventures, and Nigel here had this dream you'd be going on a big one soon, so we had to get it to you FAST." Rambled Billy as Ness continued to give the cap a good inspection and then set it to his head size.

"Your right Billy, this is lucky, and I'll be sure to wear it so you all will be with me in spirit on this journey. This is indeed going to be a long one and I'm gonna need all the luck I can get." Ness said as he removed his old cap and put on the new one. 'Not much in difference, but at least the fabric is newer and a bit more resilient' he thought as he waved goodbye to the guys and climbed back down the tree house, hearing their cries of good luck.

Stepping out of the Forest, Ness looked around, to his left and southward was Onett, and to his right was a Northern path to the old shack in the Mountain. The mountain was the former area of a Mining operation, back when a small Silver Mine was found and helped make the town of Onett into a true city, when the mine ran dry, Onett nearly died out, however they found on the top of the mountain an interesting sight, huge chunks of Earth had seemed to be pushed down and around, forming a giant footprint into the Earth, causing a major incident and had multiple Archeologists appear at the site to study it, pushed off as a Hoax, it nonetheless remained a tourist attraction big enough to keep the town's outside sources to save it. Ness himself had never visited it, figuring the vast amount of people too much of a hassle and not 'adventurous' enough for his taste, however with the recent outbreak of headaches near the site, tourism had nearly died out, and Ness saw this as a chance to check the place out. So he took the northern route to the old Shack.

As he reached it, 2 things stood out of place for him, one, the huge glaring 'DO NOT ENTER' sign posted next to the shack, and 2 guys wandering about looking thru the holes in the fence near the shack and trying the door multiple times to open it, but to no avail. They appeared to be some form of clowns, what with the puffy red pants, red hats and white makeup they had on, however they themselves weren't following the old adage to 'Laugh Clown Laugh.'

Ness walked closer to one of the two Clowns and asked him what was wrong and why the shack door was locked.

"Why's it locked? You got me on that kid! I checked with the Mayor of this town and lo and behold some punk gang leader apparently tore up the Traveler's Shack, and what with that and Giant Step causing Financial problems for the city, he decided to lock it up and close off the entire place until the problems are fixed! Now my brother and I have to sleep out in the grass at night freezing our butts off!"

'Hmmm, so Frank tore up the Traveler's Shack….wonder what for, probably just for kicks for his own sense of humor.' Thought Ness, Frank was the leader of the Sharks, a local gang of thugs who had claimed the Arcade for their own, picking on anyone who either wasn't one of their gang, was IN the arcade or near it period, and also just for kicks whenever they felt like it. Although not a superman by any standard, Frank was considered the toughest of the gang and one of the toughest people in Onett, thus he went were he wanted to go and ruled the Sharks with an Iron Fist.

'But what is this about financial problems and fixing it? Sounds like I better do some snooping around City Hall and the Arcade it seems…'

Thanking the man for his time and explanation, Ness turned around and headed back to town, set determination in his eyes to solve this problem, and relief that he had found his first step in walking the path to save the world.


	4. Jumping the Sharks

Chapter 4 – Jumping the Shark.

Ness was never one to rest on his laurels, not that he really ever knew what laurels where, but he liked that phrase and stuck to it many a time, his first stop was Onett City Hall. Located in the center of town, City Hall was the most majestic building in Onett, using the old Greek ways of construction. White Marble, Doric Order Columns, and even a carving of Justice on the top helped make it look all the better. Of course, the glaring letters 'CITY HALL' helped shoot that down, but in a town of quaint homes and normal brick and mortar buildings, it stuck out like a sore thumb anyway. Ness walked eagerly up the steps, determined to bust into the mayor's office, ask what was the holdup on the shack and planned on getting the key right then and there...

"No."

That was all he got from the secretary who proceeded to slam the door in his face and give Ness a lovely black eye and an equally black temper. Opening the door he approached her with a menacing look. "Why can't I talk to the mayor nor get the key from him right here and now?"

"Well for one, it would be a disastrous political nightmare for the mayor if he sent a kid like you into the Mines alone and you were injured. Second, I have an alarm button right next to my foot and in ten seconds I can have the entire Onett Police Force here, and third, I am a Secretary to an incompetent Mayor and I'm in a Bad mood today. That alone should mean even GOD shouldn't mess with me. GOT IT!?!" she yelled at him. Ness couldn't argue that logic.

Stepping outside, Ness sat down on the Steps of City Hall and decided to think of the next step in his plan. 'The Mayor is not looking at his financial Situation in this town, he has a Political Problem with the Sharks, so instead of fixing his money problems, I should win the crowd and he'll give me the key. But how can I win the hearts and minds of Onett?'

Ness got up and decided the best thinking was never done on an empty stomach and decided to check to see if the local Pizza Place was finally opening or would he have to wait ANOTHER 6 months. Heaven knows the Pizza Express had been built 10 months ago, but they still had the sign 'Open Soon.' And it was driving Ness nuts, 'Ten months and a Major Fast Food Chain STILL isn't open? That's just bad time Management.'

As he turned the corner, Ness was met with the sounds of riotous laughter and 3 guys in different outfits, all wearing the same tell tale Shark Fin design on their hats. One was in Brown pants, a Brown and White Striped Shirt and had a Skateboard underneath his right foot, another had Hula Hoop twirling around his arm, and was dressed in purple. The third was dressed in Green and had what looked like a Pogo Stick strapped to his back, all of them wearing sunglasses. The source of laughter was Ness himself.

"Look at that RIDICULOUS Getup! What kind of idiot dresses like that?" said the Punk with the Pogo Stick. "What, is the circus in town or something? You look like a Clown at best, but I'm guessing you're just a moron!"

"Yeah, a Moron!" Said the Hula Hoop Shark.

"And that Backpack and those shoes, this guy has no style," Said the Skateboard Punk, as he rode circles around Ness, he slightly pushed Ness towards them. "This nerd is just ASKING for us to kick his ass!"

"Yeah, Ass!" said Hula Hoop again. Ness could see he wasn't the sharpest Knife in the drawer.

This was another normal routine in the Sharks lengthy list of personal Grievances they gave the townsfolk of Onett, the Sharks originally started out as a Fan Club to Frank, calling themselves that cause of the way the center of Frank's Hair naturally spiked up, looking like a Shark Fin, notorious for constantly updating their 'Fashion' Sense, they picked on anyone they wanted, and as of recent it escalated to Muggings and even a Break In or two. The Police were called in one time or another, but the Sharks had gained quite a few gang members since they had been in a previous gang war with a smaller group, the Planes or Hang gliders or whatever they called themselves, Ness never really listened much to that anyway. Either way, the Sharks proved mostly too large and rambunctious for the Police. The Town was getting tired of the Sharks, and was in dire need of someone to clean up their act.

"And that Hat! PLEASE, what Idiot wears a cap like th-" Was all the Skateboarder got out before Ness's fist went flying into the boy's face, causing his skateboard to fly off and for him to hit the pavement hard and bounce from it.

"Nobody makes fun of the hat." Was all he said as Ness unhooked his Bat from his pack and stood there, as the other two looked startled at someone who actually was standing UP to them, the look quickly faded to anger.

"You DARE attack one of the Great Sharks? Oh your asking for it jerk, I'm gonna break your face!!" yelled the Pogo Punk as he proceeded to grab his pogo stick. Hula Hoop was already running towards Ness, swinging his hoop in the air like a lasso, preparing to bash it over Ness's head. Ness stepped quickly to the side and tripped the boy, delivering a single shot straight to the head of the punk, causing him to yelp in pain as he hit the ground hard.

The Pogo punk charged Ness as his guard was down and tackled Ness to the ground, knocking his bat away and then threw punch after punch at him. Doing his best to cover his face, Ness reached out for something, anything. If he didn't get this guy off, the other one would only help. His fingers touched something, grabbed hold and swung at the Shark's face, Ness looked in surprise to see it was his bat in hand, however he quickly stopped wondering how it got back into his hand and swung quickly to stop the Pogo Punk's second charge at him by swinging at his ribs, knocking the wind out of the Shark.

"You hurt my friends! Now I hurt you!!" screamed Hula Hoop from behind Ness and swung his hula hoop hitting Ness on the head, dazing him for a moment. The boy showed surprising strength as he proceeded to repeatedly kick Ness and hit with his hoop multiple times. Ness blindly swung as hard as he could to back the boy off and felt something connect and a loud 'THUMP!' Opening his eyes, he saw that Hula hoop was on the ground, unconscious and a nice big lump on his leg. 'Must have hit the curb pretty hard.' Thought Ness.

"Gonna be hard to break my face when your flat on yours." Said Ness as he got up, looking at the Pogo Punk.

"Trust us, your gonna be joining him pretty soon." Said a voice. Whirling around, Ness looked on in surprise and worry at seeing another 3 Sharks. All three wore brown and had the look of the First Skater, however one had a Bloody nose.

"That's the guy that broke my nose guys! Let's get him!" yelled the nose bleeder. The Three charged Ness on their skateboards, intent on making him road kill. Smiling and taking a Batter's stance, Ness waited and swung as hard as he could at the first Shark, who ducked the attack, but his second friend didn't, and took the bat full force to the side of his ribs, causing him to fall from his skateboard and hit the ground, clutching his side. The third however succeeded in slugging Ness in the face, causing him to see stars for a moment.

Shaking off the daze, Ness turned to face the two skaters as they turned around on their boards and made another run, as they drew close Ness got ready, and was attacked from behind by the one on the ground with his board. Gripping his bat tightly, Ness swung in any direction he could find causing the three to back off, but laugh at his futility. Ness found himself being quickly outnumbered and getting tired.

'Not good….what do I do…' he thought, knowing he couldn't outrun the three who had modes of transportation unlike Ness.

'Concentrate on each of them. Stare them down and make them lose focus on this reality! Their minds are weak and you can stop them dead in their tracks by putting them to sleep!' said that mysterious voice from last night.

'Who keeps following me?' he quickly thought.

'I am not following you Ness, I am in your head! But there is no time for that, they are coming back!' yelled the voice, and sure enough, the 3 punks were closing the distance, keeping space from one another so Ness couldn't get a lucky hit. Not having any choice in the matter, Ness concentrated on looking as hard as he could at the lead Shark, the one who still hadn't taken a single hit from Ness. As he stared at the boy, an odd serenity seemed to fill Ness's Mind, the quiet calm before a storm, or the peace before slumber and Ness pushed this towards the boy charging at him with fury. To Ness's Surprise, the boy indeed dropped dead asleep while moving, and to his friend's surprise as well as he collided with one of the other Sharks as well, causing them to get tangled up, the third member looked on in surprise at the sudden change of events and was too late to notice Ness's bat streaking towards his face. As the boy plummeted toward the ground, Ness didn't need to even look to know he wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. Walking over to the other Shark caught beside his unconscious friend, Ness prepared to strike him as well across the face.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I swear I'll quit the Sharks! I'll change my ways, I'll help old ladies across the street and all that other stuff boy scouts or whatever does!!" cried the boy, scared for his life and wellbeing.

Looking on with no sense of remorse, Ness had a clever idea run through his head and brought the bat down hard to the boy's yelping terror, stopping 1 inch above him. "Run along with your sleeping pal here and tell your friends and Frank that their days of terrorizing are over. And if I see you again hanging around with them Punk, I won't stop swinging next time."

Grabbing his friend and running into the Arcade as fast as possible, Ness knew he had to make tracks and fast, he got lucky this time, but he probably couldn't handle 7 Sharks at once and ran northbound. Noticing the Sun was setting, he decided to head back home and ponders about how to handle the Sharks.

Four Days had passed since Ness had his run in with the Sharks and each day had been the same for him. He went down to where their hideout was and stopped them at every turn, whether they were bullying someone, stopping traffic just for laughs or merely hanging around, Ness beat the tar out of any that crossed his path, using either Bat or the odd Hypnosis he discovered he had. He cut it too close the second day and found using his hypnosis too much gave him a colossal headache, however by the third day he stayed and waited for more to show up and was knocking punks out left and right, by the end they were almost running in terror by him walking towards them. As he walked past the Hotel on day four he noticed the Local Newspaper had taken view of it, 'Local Vigilante takes justice to the Sharks! Police peeved as Crowd Cheers!'

'Good to see I'm making news in the headlines, I guess it's time to face Frank himself. Hope I'm ready.' Thought Ness. His worries were well founded, Frank 'The Man' Fallenstein was not well known except by reputation, it was rumored he was ex Eagleland Intelligence Agency, or EIA, and was a master of weapons, science and could even program a VCR and fix its clock in a time of need. The Sharks loved him for his supposed Keen Fashion Sense and masterful skills in all things 'Cool'. No one had seen the man since the Arcade opened up, it was said he was in the back, living it up like a King amongst his gang.

"Time to let Frank know it's NOT always 'Good to be the King'" muttered Ness as he walked around the corner to the Arcade, pulling his Tee Ball Bat out and looking at the 4 sharks standing at the entrance.

"It- It's him!! That's the guy that's been attacking us! GET HIM!" yelled the first one.

"No way man, I heard he can knock people unconscious with just one swing!" said the shark standing next to him.

"Are you kidding me!? I heard he took on five of us at once and beat em all without getting hit once!" said the third guy.

"Not a chance I'm facing him, I heard he beat eight sharks just by staring at them!! He's some kind of demon!" said the fourth one.

Ness started to laugh as he walked towards them from the tall tales that so quickly spread about this 'half crazed Vigilante'. The laughter was all it took causing all four of them to go running in terror from him and leaving the Arcade doors wide open.

"Hmmm, perhaps fame and wild rumor _do_ have their excuses after all." Said Ness as he entered the Arcade, the lights going dimmer as the sounds of explosions, game music and the rustle of quarters flooded his ears. The smell of sweat and old pizza permeating the air. 'No wonder the Pizza place has been closed so long, these guys have been breaking in and stealing the supplies!' thought Ness, annoyed that a group of punks like them would do something to the rest of the town. Walking through the Arcade, most of the Sharks were too busy playing their games, that or ignoring the guy most of them knew had beaten the crap out of them only days before. As he approached a set of double doors, he noticed a sign above it, 'No entry unless Frank himself says so!' with a single guy there holding a hula hoop guarding the entrance, he looked at Ness up and down, sizing him up and stating, "You want to see our boss Frank?"

"Yes I do. Let me pass."

"No chance kid, you want to meet our esteemed Boss, you got to get through me."

Looking at the Punk square in the eye, Ness began to stare him down, right into slumber. As the guy dropped to the ground snoring softly, Ness stepped over him. "I think I can do that.

Stepping outside in the sunlight, Ness's eyes adjusted quickly to see a man in a Red Zoot Suit, hunched over a large wooden box with what looked like a bucket on top. The shade covering his Combed back Blonde Hair and Shades, his smile giving the note of, 'I'm too cool for anything you have to say.' Staring at the box behind the man, Ness merely walked up to him, the man turned and stepped out of the shade.

"I'm Frank. You are?" was all he said, Ness looked at Frank with a look of caution, wondering just what the heck was it behind Frank that he was working on. "Well are you going to answer me or just stand there?" yelled Frank as he walked up to Ness, a look of anger on his face. "So you think you can stand up to me?! I'll show you why they call me Failproof Frank!"

Jumping a step back, Ness withdrew his Bat and swung at Frank, catching the large man in the Side. Frank took the blow, wincing in pain, but returned the attack in kind with his fist in Ness's face, knocking the boy to the ground.

"So this is the 'Vigilante' my boys are scared to death about? That all you got Kid? Your NOTHING! I've faced wild snakes tougher than you!" insulted Frank, kicking Ness in the stomach to add injury to insult. Frank hoped it would take the fight out of the boy and make him run in terror like most Sharks did who got to big for themselves...it didn't work.

Ness fumed in anger at let it run loose. Getting up from one knee Ness swung upward with his kneeling position and smashed Frank right in the Jaw, knocking the man clean off his feet, 5 feet away, slamming the back of his head into the fence at the back of the lot.

"And I've had tougher times getting my Neighbor to leave me alone, let alone take a bath, than dealing with an old fart like you." retorted Ness as he walked slowly to the older man.

"Deal with THIS you punk!" screamed Frank as he pulled a Knife at least 6 inches long. He ran towards Ness in a rage and then thrusted at him. Ness sidestepped quickly, but not enough at Frank slashed at his side. Wincing in Pain Ness wildly struck with his Bat, and connected Frank right in the Back, knocking the man to the ground. Frank did not stand back up, only groaned in pain at the various bruises he would recieve in the not too distant future.

Ness himself was looking no better, catching his breath, he took out a Hamburger to fix his massive growing appetite. As he ate, he concentrated on the wounds he recieved and noticed that they already began to close up at an odd rate. And yet he didn't feel as exhausted nor hungry as he usually did when he tried to heal himself. 'Hmmm, perhaps the food helps me not have to concentrate and push myself as much.' he thought.

"I'll teach you kid..." said Frank, breaking Ness out of his thoughts. "Fail-Proof Frank can't be beaten." said Frank in between breaths, "Now you see what would have made me more than a gang leader, but King of this whole stinkin town!! Meet 'Frankystein Mark II!" Pulling out a remote from his coat pocket, Frank pressed the button, and the Box next to the tree started to rumble, and a fist then made a hole in the box, then a second hole by another fist, the sounds a motor eminating from the Box, and the front burst open, a shower of packing confetti and shreds of cardboard flying away, revealing a brown wooden and rusty metal tank like robot inside, treads supported it's feet, a grin painted on it's face, and the eyes painted to look like the Shark's tell tale shades.

Walking towards the contraption, Ness swung his bat at the machine's head, causing it to spin around, locking back into it's old position, a mean looking dent though looking at it's side. The machine merely made the sounds of a motor hissing, and steam vented from the sides and exhaust pipe in the back as it stood it's ground unphased, the silent grin on it's face making it seem all the more menacing. Ness swung a second time, hitting the side of it, leaving a dent once again in the machine, but it seemed no worse for wear. In retaliation, the machine outstreched one of it's gloved fists and struck Ness hard across the face, nearly knocking him to the ground from the force of the blow.

Frank let out a large bellowing laughter, "Don't you see kid? You had no chance against my plans!!! I'm the most powerful man in this town. I OWN this town!" Frank then pressed another button on the remote, and Frankystein's treads stopped, and elevated the machine.

"_Combat Sequence Engaged_" was all the machine said at one fist leveled itself to Ness and pointed at him, almost a way of saying he was targeted. Ness looked back at the machine and struck again, this time at the body again, in the hope of increasing the damage and causing the motor to give out. Although with the blow he busted out the wood revealing the inner machinery, it did little to stop the monster as it barreled down at top speed at Ness, tearing into the boy and breaking his arm in the process, and tossed Ness across the room like a rag doll. Ness screamed out in pain from the busted arm and the bruises he was feeling all along his back.

"You shouldn't have messed with me Ness. That's right, I know who you are. You didn't think I'd just idly stand by and let you beat my men up and make me lose all control? Oh no, I've been working on this fine beauty for awhile. And he is going to be the sign of demise on both you, and anyone else!" said Frank, laughing at his triumph as he then looked at the boy, and he immediatly felt suprise. Ness had stood up, the look of pain gone from his face, his arm even looking perfectly fine. All that was left was the look of anger on his face as Ness yelled, charged at the machine and proceeded to attack the thing violently. The first blow completly taking off the robot's right arm, the second crushing half the head of the machine, the third and fourth denting the treads causing it unable to move and the fifth one made his Bat snap in two, but caused the chest of the machine to cave in, giving it the look of slumping over, with the motor giving one last spurt or two, it died, the sounds of the entire thing failing, and Frankystein Mark II was completly destroyed.

Frank looked upon the situation with a mix of depression and utter terror. Ness approached the man as Frank fell backwards and looked upon the smashed rubble that was his greatest creation, yet also was the sign of his first failure. He spoke with the voice of a man who seemed to have lost everything, and who knows? Maybe at that moment he had.

"This...is a first for me. Fail-proof Frank is now just..Failure Frank." He looked up at Ness, a look of awe and respect upon his face. "As I said, I have heard who you are and that your getting into Giant Step. I was there before they closed it out to people, it seems...pretty intense, but if anyone can handle it, it's you boy. You have...something I can't explain, but it is the thing needed to find the anwsers there. Ness, you've become far stronger than I, and if there are other places like Giant Step...then this is the beginning for you."

"You haven't even begun to grasp the tip of the iceberg Frank. But I am more concerned at the moment what I should do with you." Said Ness, Frank only looked upon him and smiled a very calm serene smile.

"I merely looked upon Onett as a place to call my own. At first I saw it as a land to conquer, since none challenged me like people did in the Military, but I see now the strength you possess, this town has more to it than I knew. Perhaps the people are Good, and stronger than I gave them credit. You've earned my respect this day Ness, and I will turn over a new leaf, if I must turn myself in to the police, I will do so, and I will have the sharks start to help the town as opposed to tear it down into my image."

Ness looked upon the grown man, and saw the look on his face. Ness couldn't help it, he believed the man. "Alright Frank, I want you to tell the Sharks the changes, and go to the Police and tell them everything. If the town likes me as much as I think they do, I'll help you."

Over the next 2 days, the newspaper sales skyrocketed around Onett. The disbanded Sharks, Frank turning over a new leaf, and the young boy named Ness who did the whole thing, The Police had come to state on the paper they wished to put the boy behind bars for being a vigilante, but the town practically would have rioted if Ness was so much as given a parking ticket at this moment. It wasn't long before Ness recieved a certain letter in the mail...


End file.
